ABUSE TRACKER

IRELAND
Newstalk

A rally will take place in Dublin today calling for the National Maternity Hospital to be kept in public ownership.

The various groups- including ‘Justice for Magdalenes’ (JFM) and ‘Parents for Choice’ (PFC) have said the hospital belongs in public not private hands.

The Minister for Health Simon Harris has insisted he is “as determined as ever” to go ahead with the project and has called for a period of calm to discuss the plans with the various hospital boards ahead of a planning permission decision from An Bord Pleanála – due in the autumn.

He has insisted the religious organisation will be unable to profit from the facility and pledged to ensure that there will be no religious interference in the hospitals ethos or clinical independence.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Hayley Halpin
May 7 2017

A protest against the ownership of the new National Maternity Hospital being given to the religious order the Sisters of Charity is set to take place in Dublin city centre today.

The demonstration is being organised by the National Women’s Council of Ireland, Uplift and Parents for Choice in Pregnancy and Stillbirth.

The march will gather at the Garden of Remembrance at 2pm before demonstrators make their way down to Leinster House.

Uplift created a petition aimed at the Department of Health to block Sisters of Charity as “sole owners” of the National Maternity Hospital. The petition has received over 103,000 of 125,000 signatures.

Denise Kiernan, creator of the petition, is set to be one of the speakers at today’s marc

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SCOTLAND
Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry

We have now added the timetable for Phase 1 of the Inquiry hearings to this website. It can be found in a new section called Hearings.

The evidence to be heard will include:

* Evidence from expert witnesses about:
* The legislative and regulatory framework governing children in care in Scotland up to 1968;
* The early development of care services in Scotland;
* Societal attitudes towards children; and
* The nature and prevalence of child abuse in Scotland.
* Evidence from the Scottish Government on the nature, extent and development of the State’s areas of responsibility for children in residential and foster care in Scotland.
* Evidence of the history and governance of a number of care providers, including faith based organisations, and whether there is any retrospective acknowledgement of abuse.
* Evidence of the background, development, purpose and work of survivor groups.

This first phase of hearings will begin on 31 May 2017 and run until 12 July 2017.

We have also updated the Costs table to include the Inquiry’s expenditure for the period 1 January 2017 to 31 March 2017.

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SCOTLAND
Herald Scotland

Peter Swindon, Group Investigations Writer / @PeterSwindon

Survivors of systemic sexual and physical abuse have asked Police Scotland to send officers to the first public hearings of an unprecedented inquiry.

They have also urged the independent Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry to publish a detailed breakdown of spending after costs soared by more than £2m in the first three months of this year.

And there have been fresh calls to widen the inquiry to include a charity which has worked with more than 1,000 survivors but was denied “core participant” status, meaning it can’t question witnesses or view evidence.

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IRELAND
Limerick Leader

7 May 2017

NORMA PRENDIVILLEnormap@limerickleader.ie

FIANNA Fail TD for Limerick, Niall Collins, has again intervened in the ongoing controversy over documents from the Glin Industrial School which are now in the possession of abuse survivor, Tom Wall.

In March, Br Edmund Garvey, head of the European Province of the Congregation of Christian Brothers, wrote to Deputy Collins who had raised the issue in the Dail, and told him the Brothers would be satisfied with copies of the documents for their archives.

Now Deputy Collins has, at the request of Tom Wall, again contacted Br Garvey. “I have written to Br Garvey and asked him to confirm what he previously said to me which was that they would be happy with copies of the documents,” Deputy Collins told the Limerick Leader this Wednesday. “But I am still waiting on a reply.”

Tom Wall has, meanwhile, rejected a proposed agreement sent to him by solicitors acting for the Christian Brothers because he felt it did not include a renunciation of any legal claim to the documents by the Brothers.

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ROME
Pacific Daily News

Eric J. Lyman, For USA Today
May 7, 2017

ROME — Guam Archbishop Anthony Apuron isn’t the first high-ranking church official to be accused of sexual abuse, but his ongoing canonical trial at the Vatican is ground-breaking, according to experts.

A new trial process for these types of allegations is in place under Pope Francis, and Apuron would be the first to be investigated and tried since its implementation.

Former Agat altar boys Walter Denton, Roy Quintanilla, Roland Sondia, and the relatives of former altar boy Joseph “Sonny” Quinata have accused Apuron of child molestation and rape when he was parish priest in the late 1970s. Apuron has denied the allegations.

The Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith last October named Cardinal Raymond Burke the presiding judge in Apuron’s trial. Burke’s office did not reply to requests for comment.

According to Iacopo Scaramuzzi, a Vatican expert who has written a book about Pope Francis called “Tango Vaticano,” Francis has completed a reform process started under Pope Benedict XVI that makes it possible for those accused of sexual abuse to face two trials: a canonical trial and a criminal trial. Previously, only the criminal trial was used.

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CONNECTICUT
Hartford Courant

Jordan Otero Sisson and Ken Byron

Cheers erupted through Holy Trinity Church in Hartford Saturday night at the moment worshippers learned that their beloved and historic building would not be closing, something parishioners feared for months would happen under a church reorganization plan.

But in Cheshire, the mood at the 4 p.m. Saturday Mass was much different: Parishioners at the Church of the Epiphany heard that theirs would be among the 59 parishes slated to merge with other parishes under the Archdiocese of Hartford’s reorganization plan, released Saturday. Their church will close.

“I’m going to minister to you as best as I can,” the Rev. John L. Williams Jr. said in his homily to Cheshire parishioners. “The nearest thing I can compare this to would be ministering to people who have suffered a death in their family. There’s going to be pain.”

The emotions inside the churches in Hartford and Cheshire Saturday will likely mirror what parishioners will experience Sunday morning at Masses celebrated across the archdiocese. The areas hardest hit by the changes were parts of New Haven County, including Waterbury where four church buildings are slated to close.

Parishioners at Holy Trinity first believed their small church on Capitol Avenue in Hartford would make the cut under the plan, which will merge dozen of parishes this summer. But as planning entered its final weeks, they worried their church was doomed.

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CONNECTICUT
Hartford Courant

Interactive Map: Archdiocese of Hartford Reconfiguration

Jordan Otero Sisson

Fifty-nine parishes in the Archdiocese of Hartford will be merged under a plan that church leaders say is designed to launch a new era of Catholicism in Connecticut, church leaders said Saturday morning.

The mergers, which will be effective as of June 29, will involve unions of two, three, four, five and six parishes, according to a press release.

New Haven County was hit the hardest, with 16 parishes there slated for closure, according to the plan available on the archdiocese’s website.

The archdiocese, which currently oversees 212 parishes in Hartford, Litchfield and New Haven counties, spent the two years developing a reorganization plan.

Under the new structure, there will be 127 pastorates in the initial phase, from 2017-19. Sixty-eight parishes will remain as-is in the first phase. A pastorate is a single parish with a church and one or more worship sites, campus and ministries, according to the archdiocese’s pastoral planning website.

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ARGENTINA
El Pais

FEDERICO RIVAS MOLINA
Buenos Aires 6 MAY 2017

“Soy una persona buena que he entregado mi vida a Dios”, dijo la monja Kosaka Kumiko. Vestida aún con su hábito, pero esposada y con chaleco antibalas, la religiosa se declaró inocente ante el juez que la acusa de ayudar y encubrir a los sacerdotes que, durante años, abusaron sexualmente de los niños sordos que tenían a su cuidado en el Instituto Provolo de Mendoza, en Argentina. Kumiko llegó al colegio en 2007 desde Japón, y durante seis años fue “el demonio con cara de mujer” detrás de las violaciones, como la llamó uno de los abogados de las víctimas. Esos mismos niños han sido ahora los verdugos judiciales de la monja: en marzo pasado, una adolescente contó que, cuando tenía sólo cinco años, Kumiko le colocó un pañal para disimular el sangrado que le producía la violación sistemática a la que la sometían varios sacerdotes de la orden. La mujer tenía también la misión de seleccionar a los niños más “sumisos” y entregarlos como presas a los curas. Ahora ha quedado detenida, luego de estar prófuga durante más de un mes.

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ARGENTINA
The Sun (UK)

By Hannah Crouch
7th May 2017

A JAPANESE nun has been arrested and charged on suspicion of helping priests sexually abuse deaf children at an Argentinean school.

Kosaka Kumiko was accused of helping priests with anal and vaginal rapes, fondling and oral sex, which were allegedly committed in the bathrooms, dormitories, garden and a basement at the Antonio Provolo Institute for children in Lujan de Cuyo.

The 42-year-old was pictured in handcuffs and wearing her habit and a bullet-proof vest as she was escorted by police to a court hearing.

A case against the nun was launched after a former student claimed Kumiko had made her wear a diaper in order to cover up a haemorrhage after she was allegedly raped by priest Horacio Corbacho.

Kumiko denies any wrong-doing and told judicial officials: “I am innocent.”

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UNITED STATES
The Open Tabernacle: Here Comes Everybody

Posted on May 7, 2017 by Betty Clermont

Every pope “possesses supreme, full, immediate and universal ordinary power in the Church, which he is always able to exercise freely” according to the Code of Canon Law.

Members of the Roman Curia are appointed and granted authority by the pope.

Pope Francis has also changed the Curia administration. First he created a Secretariat for the Economy and a Council for the Economy. Next, he created a Secretariat for Communications. He replaced the management of the Vatican Bank and the Vatican’s financial “watchdog,” the Financial Information Authority. In the past year, he created new departments for Integral Human Development and another for the Laity, Family and Life replacing five previous councils. Also, the pope appointed 27 new members to the Congregation for Divine Worship, changing the department through its personnel.

Yet the anglophone media has declared in scores of reports that Pope Francis’ struggles to “clean-up” the Vatican but is thwarted by his subordinates, often characterized as “conservatives.” (e.g. here, here, here, here)

Pope Francis, however, refers to his subordinates as “the leprosy of the papacy.” He has accused them of “spiritual Alzheimer’s,” “existential schizophrenia,” “hypocrisy typical of the mediocre,” “progressive spiritual emptiness,” and having cliques that “enslave their members and become a cancer that threatens the harmony of the body.”

SEX ABUSE

Working on the FBI’s specialized team investigating child pornography and sexual abuse crimes is so disturbing that it is the only department staffed entirely by volunteers who are free to leave at any time.

Pope Francis’ leadership in allowing sexual assaults against children to continue is the most sickening and unprecedented in modern ecclesial history.

More than fifteen years after the Boston Globe’s “Spotlight” on predator priests, the U.S. bishops published their most recent self-report.

Shockingly, 172 clerics accused of sexual abuse of minors, as counted between 2014 and mid-2015 inclusive, are still in active ministry, retired, resigned or their whereabouts unknown.

Another 121 were permanently or temporarily removed from ministry and 40 were laicized (defrocked). No mention is made how many are free men or if any are incarcerated.

“Research has consistently shown that false allegations of child sexual abuse by children are rare.”

Between 2013-2015 inclusive, 2,315 victim/survivors were reported to the bishops.

Suicides of clerical sex abuse victims “are over 30 times the rate in the general population.”

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IRELAND
The Journal

A PROTEST MARCH against the Sisters of Charity owning the new national maternity hospital will take place in Dublin city today.

Demonstrators will gather at the Garden of Remembrance at 2pm before making their way to Leinster House.

Today’s march has been organised by a number of groups including the National Women’s Council of Ireland, Parents for Choice in Pregnancy and Stillbirth, Justice for Magdalenes Research and Uplift.

The latter organised a petition against the religious order owning the hospital. It has been signed by over 103,000 people at the time of publication.

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IRELAND
Breaking News

07/05/2017

Women’s rights groups will march through Dublin today to protest against any possibility of granting of ownership of the National Maternity Hospital to the Sisters of Charity.

The various groups including Justice for Magdalenes say the hospital belongs in public not private hands.

“[There is a] general wrongness in this action and it should be really, really obvious to the Government that this is not something that should happen, that it’s obviously going to outrage people and that people don’t trust the Sisters of Charity to do what’s best with their ownership of the National Maternity Hospital,” she said.

A similar protest is also taking place outside Sligo Courthouse at 2pm today.

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SCOTLAND
Daily Record

BY GRACE MACASKILL
6 MAY 2017

Cowering under her duvet at night, 11-year-old Angie prayed that God would keep her safe.

Sadly for the terrified youngster, the church she trusted were on the side of the very man who haunted her nightmares – her abusive father.

And shockingly, when she plucked up the courage to tell elders at the Jehovah’s Witness church what had happened, one of them went on to abuse her as well.

Now a mum of four, 36-year-old Angie Rodgers said: “I turned to the church for help and I was abused a second time. I was a child and they should have helped but instead they turned on me.

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SOUTH AFRICA
Herald Live

May 7, 2017

The evidence presented at the bail application of pastor Tim Omotoso in Port Elizabeth this week has been sordid.

The pastor is accused of sexual abuse and human trafficking and, of course, these allegations must still be tested in court. However, they do also highlight a particularly South African problem: the exchange of sexual services between vulnerable young women and powerful older men.

Evidence was led that most of the teenage girls alleged to have been abused lacked a father figure and turned to the pastor to fill this role. Whether or not he abused this role is over to the law to decide.

However, The Herald on Friday also reported on the good work done by the First Things First movement which is taking a firm stand against lecturers who hand out higher marks to students who sleep with them.

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SOUTH AFRICA
News 24

2017-05-07

Nosipiwo Manona

Timothy Omotoso made his victims massage him with Vaseline before penetrating them without condoms and reciting a psalm afterwards.

An investigating officer in the case of jailed pastor Timothy Omotoso this week gave chilling testimony of how the clergyman allegedly used the modus operandi of a skilled sexual predator to lure young girls and later abuse them.

Omotoso is facing various sexual offence charges, including human trafficking and rape.

His appearances at the Port Elizabeth Magistrates’ Court have been marked by huge crowds of supporters, who have gathered outside court insisting he is innocent.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Eagle-Tribune

By Jill Harmacinski jharmacinski@eagletribune.com 

LAWRENCE — Two men who were students at Central Catholic High School in the 1960s both told The Eagle-Tribune they were physically and sexually abused by the late Brother Michael Edward and that a culture of “regimentation and intimidation” was prevalent there. 

“There was extreme physical abuse and it was just accepted,” said Michael Bresnahan, a 1967 Central Catholic graduate who now works as a teacher at the Guilmette School in Lawrence.

Bresnahan said students at that time wore collared shirts, ties and jackets and Brother Michael Edward would tell them to unbutton their shirts. The brother, he said, reached into his shirt and others, feeling their pectoral muscles and nipples. Bresnahan said he was not personally abused beyond the chest touching but witnessed the physical abuse of others.

He said Brother Michael Edward also repeatedly slapped the face of a fellow student who was forced to stand in front of the class. 

“When you are in a culture of regimentation and intimidation you don’t know what’s normal,” said Bresnahan, age 67.

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JAMAICA
Jamaica Observer

BY MARK CUMMINGS
Editor-at-Large
cummingsm@jamaicaobserver.com

Sunday, May 07, 2017

BUNKER’S Hill, Trelawny — The Church in Jamaica has been thrown into further disarray, with news that another man of the cloth has been arrested and charged by the police with a sexual offence against a minor.Host pastor of the Bunker’s Hill New Testament Church of God in Trelawny, Presley Smith will face the Falmouth Parish Court later this week, after he was arrested and charged on Friday with acts of sexual offences.

Allegations are that between January 2016 and January of this year, Smith, 27, a native of Kingston but who currently lives in this rural Trelawny community, committed a number of sexual offences against a 15-year-old male student who hails from the district and is now residing in Montego Bay, St James.

Investigators have said that Smith turned himself in at the Centre for the Investigation of Sexual Offences and Child Abuse (CISOCA) in Kingston on May 3 and was later transferred to Falmouth, where he was subsequently slapped with charges of buggery, gross indecency, and grievous sexual assault.

A senior police officer who is close to the investigations told the Jamaica Observer yesterday that the alleged acts were committed at the pastor’s rented house in the Bunker’s Hill community.

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NEDERLAND
NOS

[Research has revealed five new cases of sexual abuse by clergy in the Old Catholic Church (OKKN). The perpetrators are all deceased. According to the church they founda total of seven clergymen guilty of an “unacceptable sexual behavior in pastoral situations”.]

Onderzoek door de Oud-Katholieke Kerk (OKKN) heeft vijf nieuwe gevallen van seksueel misbruik aan het licht gebracht. De daders zijn allen overleden. Volgens de kerk hebben in totaal zeven geestelijken zich schuldig gemaakt aan een “onaanvaardbare seksuele houding in pastorale situaties”.

De andere twee gevallen kwamen onlangs in het nieuws: een priester is in Cambodja opgepakt omdat hij seksueel expliciete foto’s van jonge kinderen maakte, een ander werd geschorst bij zijn parochie in Amsterdam omdat hij in het verleden een kind misbruikte.

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CONNECTICUT
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Hartford

HARTFORD, Conn. (May 6, 2017) A headline in one of the local newspapers today stated that 127 parishes in the Archdiocese of Hartford are slated to close. This is false.

What is being announced this weekend is that as a result of a two-year pastoral planning process, as of June 29 there will be 127 parishes in the Archdiocese of Hartford, instead of the current 212.

68 parishes will remain as they are; 59 will merge. The mergers will involve unions of two, three, four, five and six parishes.

186 church buildings will remain open. 26 church buildings will close, inasmuch as regularly scheduled Masses will not be held in them.

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ARGENTINA
Televisa

En un nuevo y escabroso episodio relacionado con el presunto abuso sexual de niños sordos en la provincia argentina de Mendoza, una monja católica fue acusada por la justicia de haber facilitado y consentido las violaciones.

La japonesa Kosaka Kumiko, de 42 años, fue imputada la noche del jueves por un fiscal de “comisión por omisión del abuso sexual con acceso carnal”, entre otros cargos, y quedó detenida en la Penitenciaría de Agua de las Avispas en la ciudad de Mendoza, situada a unos a 1.190 kilómetros al oeste de Buenos Aires.

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ARGENTINA
Daily Mail (UK)

By Timothyna Duncan For Dailymail.com and Associated Press

A Roman Catholic nun from Japan has been arrested and charged on suspicion of helping priests sexually abuse children at a school for youths with hearing disabilities in Argentina.

Kosaka Kumiko, 42, was charged with helping the priests with anal and vaginal rapes, fondling and oral sex, which were allegedly committed in the bathrooms, dormitories, garden and a basement at the school in Lujan de Cuyo, a city about 620 miles northwest of Buenos Aires.

The case against Kumiko began after a former student accused her of making her wear a diaper to cover up a hemorrhage after she was allegedly raped by priest Horacio Corbacho.

‘I am innocent,’ she told judicial officials, who ordered her to be taken into custody at a local women’s prison while detectives investigate the alleged crimes.

The nun, who has Argentine citizenship, has also been charged with physically abusing the students – whose torments could only be heard by those abusing them since the other children were deaf – at the Antonio Provolo Institute for children with hearing impairment in northwestern Mendoza province.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Francis G. Ozog Funeral Home

March 29, 1986 ~ May 5, 2017 (age 31)

Corey Joseph Edward Leech, 31; Johnstown. This is the story of Corey Joseph Edward Leech. It was a promising beginning that ended far too soon at the ripe age of 31. Corey, the third-eldest brother of 10, enjoyed playing and watching sports. His favorite professional teams were the Philadelphia Eagles, Pittsburgh Penguins, and the Atlanta Braves. Corey was also a talented athlete, playing baseball, basketball, and football for Bishop McCort high school. Through his Catholic educators, Corey was introduced to a “man of the cloth,” a predator, who aimed to take advantage of a trusting, handsome, and athletic boy. Despite his years of private suffering, Corey went on to graduate Magna Cum Laude from the nursing program at Mt. Aloysius, where he also played baseball and earned his Bachelor’s degree in 2008. Corey pursued a career as a registered nurse in the regional intensive care nursery at Conemaugh and also as a traveling nurse in San Diego, CA.

He had a true passion for children and was delighted that his career afforded him the opportunity to help babies who were “smaller than his hand.”Turns out Corey was one of many children victimized by this man. When his years of private torment became national news, Corey made an uncommonly brave decision. He chose to testify. He wanted to prevent other children from living his nightmare. While he did more than his share to help others, it was too late for Corey. His nightmare was inescapable. Years of abuse by this clergyman destroyed Corey’s faith. The house of God no longer provided any solace for Corey, so he sought peace the only way he could, through substance abuse. Corey will be remembered by his family and friends as the caring, bright and fun-loving young man whose future was stolen from him by those he trusted the most.

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NEW YORK
WHEC

May 06, 2017

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) – In New York state government news, victims of childhood sexual crimes petition lawmakers to let them sue abusers even if the statute of limitations has run out and child welfare advocates seek a ban on toys containing toxic materials.

The two proposals are among dozens of bills competing for attention as lawmakers begin the final six weeks of their annual legislative session.

A look at what’s coming up this week in Albany:
___

CHILD VICTIMS ACT

New York state now has one of the nation’s tightest statute of limitations on filing criminal charges and lawsuits for past molestation.

The proposal before lawmakers would eliminate the criminal and civil statute of limitations for several child sexual abuse crimes and create a one-year window for past victims to file civil suits.

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IRELAND
The Irish Sun

By Kieran Dineen
4th May 2017

THE Catholic Church has assets valued at almost €4billion that campaigners say should be controlled and owned by the State.

The future site of the €300million National Maternity Hospital — which will be built on Church land and owned by the Church — has reignited a debate about the role of the ­Vatican in this country.

And an analysis by the Irish Sun shows that Pope Francis has a far bigger grip on the State than this crisis shows.

We totted up the total value of the schools, hospitals and disability ­services which are owned and controlled by religious orders in Ireland.

A number of politicians say these should be handed over to the State, and that Rome should have no role.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Welt

[A year ago, it was known for the first time that in the 1980s children were sexually abused in a Hamburg children home. Two former inhabitants had reported the abuse. Now the (Protestant) church is looking for more contemporary witnesses.]

Vor einem Jahr war erstmals bekannt geworden, dass in 80er-Jahre in einem Hamburger Heim Kinder sexuell missbraucht worden sein sollen. Zwei ehemalige Bewohnerinnen hatten sich gemeldet. Nun sucht die Kirche weitere Zeitzeugen.

Nach einem Aufruf des Kirchenkreises Hamburg-Ost im Oktober haben sich mehrere ehemalige Bewohner des evangelischen Kinderheimes gemeldet, in dem in den 80er-Jahren mehrere Kinder sexuelle missbraucht worden sein sollen. Die Aussagen seien schlüssig und glaubwürdig, erklärte Pröpstin Ulrike Murrmann am Donnerstag. Die Gespräche mit den Personen stünden erst am Anfang. Es habe sich aber gezeigt, so Pröpstin Murmann, „dass wir auf dem richtigen Weg sind“. Nun werde nach weiteren Zeitzeugen gesucht.

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DEUTSCHLAND
General Anzeiger

[BAD GODESBERG. At the Aloisiuskolleg (Ako) in Bad Godesberg, there was apparently a sexual assault by an employee in mid-April. The college has taken immediate action.]

BAD GODESBERG. Am Aloisiuskolleg (Ako) in Bad Godesberg hat es Mitte April offenbar einen sexuellen Übergriff durch einen Mitarbeiter gegeben. Das Kolleg hat daraus umgehend Konsequenzen gezogen.

Von Ebba Hagenberg-Miliu, 06.05.2017

Wie Dirk Schneemann, Pressesprecher der Bezirksregierung, auf GA-Anfrage bestätigte, habe das Kolleg der Schulaufsicht mitgeteilt, dass sich ein Lehrer einer solchen Tat schuldig gemacht habe. “Nach unserer Kenntnis hat das Kolleg dienstrechtliche Konsequenzen gezogen und Strafanzeige gegen den Mitarbeiter erstattet.”

Für das Ako sagte auf GA-Anfrage der gerade verabschiedete Rektor, Pater Johannes Siebner, als Geschäftsführer der Aloisiuskolleg gGmbH, man habe sich mit dem Mitarbeiter darauf verständigt, dass er das Kolleg “zum Schuljahresende verlassen und bis dahin nicht an das Aloisiuskolleg zurückkehren wird”. Die Frage, ob das Kolleg Strafanzeige gegen den Mann gestellt habe und weshalb, ließ Siebner unbeantwortet. Nach GA-Informationen soll Mitte April ein Lehrer einer Schülerin gegenüber übergriffig geworden sein. In einem Rundschreiben an die Eltern bittet das Ako zum Schutze der Persönlichkeitsrechte aller dringend um Diskretion.

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DEUTSCHLAND
RP Online

[At the Aloisiuskolleg in Bonn there was obviously a sexual assault by a teacher. There had been several such cases in the Jesuit school in the past.]

Bonn. Am Aloisiuskolleg in Bonn hat es offenbar einen sexuellen Übergriff durch einen Mitarbeiter gegeben. An der Jesuitenschule hatte es in der Vergangenheit mehrere solcher Fälle gegeben.

Der bisherige Leiter der Jesuitenschule, Pater Johannes Siebner, bestätigte am Samstag auf Anfrage einen Bericht des Bonner “General-Anzeigers”. Der Zeitung sagte Siebner, man habe sich mit dem Mitarbeiter darauf verständigt, dass dieser das Gymnasium im Stadtteil Bad Godesberg zum Schuljahresende verlassen und bis dahin nicht an das Aloisiuskolleg zurückkehren werde.

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CONNECTICUT
Hartford Courant

Jordan Otero Sisson

Fifty-nine parishes in the Archdiocese of Hartford will be merged under a plan that church leaders say is designed to launch a new era of Catholicism in Connecticut, church leaders said Saturday morning.

The mergers, which will be effective as of June 29, will involve unions of two, three, four, five and six parishes, according to a press release.

The archdiocese, which currently oversees 212 parishes in Hartford, Litchfield and New Haven counties, spent the two years developing a reorganization plan.

Under the new structure, there will be 127 pastorates in the initial phase, from 2017-19. Sixty-eight parishes will remain as-is in the first phase. A pastorate is a single parish with a church and one or more worship sites, campus and ministries, according to the archdiocese’s pastoral planning website.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

More than 1,000 people have attended a funeral service for the former Bishop of Gloucester.

The Right Reverend Michael Perham died aged 69 last month after a battle with cancer.

He was appointed in 2004 and retired in November 2014.

People travelled from as far away as America and Sweden to attend the service at Gloucester Cathedral, which was presided over by current bishop the Right Reverend Rachel Treweek.

In 2015 Bishop Perham was cleared by both the Church of England and police of two allegations of historical sexual abuse.

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WASHINGTON
Seattle Times

By Mary Dispenza
Special to The Times

MY silence has been disturbing me. It’s a familiar reaction for survivors like me. But I can’t keep silent any longer. Silence keeps things in darkness and prevents us from seeing clearly in the light of day.

I don’t have the right to speak for or against Seattle Mayor Ed Murray or the man, Delvonn Heckard, who has accused the mayor of raping him as a teen. Nor do I want to. However, I do have the right and responsibility to speak for myself, as a survivor of sexual abuse, and possibly for other survivors who have been sexually violated.

I have to talk about this issue and write about it. I just can’t stuff it down. Sexual abuse, well, it’s been a big chunk of my life. I can tell victims and survivors it gets better, but it doesn’t go away. That’s how it is: We heal and we remember. Talking about it helps.

There is, and always has been, so much silence and secrecy around issues of sex, sexuality and sex abuse. It’s a taboo topic for most of us — especially around the dinner table with family and friends. And yet predatory sexual abuse has no boundaries. It doesn’t matter. It knows no religion, race, color, gender, socio-economic bracket. It can affect us regardless of our social conditioning or whether we are gay, straight, lesbian, bisexual or transgender.

It’s so much easier to talk about politics or other matters than to discuss sex or sexual abuse. What we keep hidden can fester and spread. It holds power over us.
.

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ARGENTINA
The Independent (UK)

Lucy Pasha-Robinson @lucypasha

A Roman Catholic nun has been charged on suspicion of helping priests sexually abuse deaf children, Argentinean authorities have said.

Kosaka Kumiko was also charged with physically abusing the students at the Antonio Provolo Institute for children with hearing impairment in northwestern Mendoza province.

The 42-year-old nun, who was born in Japan but has Argentine citizenship, denied any wrongdoing.

Kumiko lived at the school between 2004 and 2012, according to authorities. She had been on the run for about a month before she turned herself in this week.

A former student accused the nun of forcing her to wear a diaper to conceal bleeding after she was allegedly raped by priest Horacio Corbacho, prompting police to investigate.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Mary Minihan

Concerns about the possible intervention of the Vatican in the future ownership and ethos of the new National Maternity Hospital (NMH) have been raised with the Minister for Health Simon Harris by Amnesty International Ireland.

Executive director Colm O’Gorman said he had set out fresh questions in a letter to the Minister this week, focused on the transfer of ownership of the NMH to the religious-owned St Vincent’s Healthcare Group.

“One significant issue which we have not seen addressed is the question of possible intervention by the Vatican regarding issues of both ownership and ethos of the facility,” Mr O’Gorman told The Irish Times.

Mr O’Gorman said the Sisters of Charity was an institute of pontifical right, meaning it was under the ultimate authority of the Pope.

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ARGENTINA
Equilibrio Informativo

Pablo Novarro

Lo cierto es que en la jornada de este martes, la religiosa se entregó en una comisaría de Buenos Aires y en los próximos días será trasladada a Mendoza para quedar a disposición del fiscal Stroppiana. Fuentes judiciales adelantaron que una vez que llegue, será imputada y trasladada a la Unidad III Penal de Mujeres ubicada en El Borbollón, Las Heras.

Se cree que Kumiko “tanteaba” a los niños para descubrir a los más sumisos, quienes luego serían abusados. El fiscal negó esta medida, por lo que ahora será un juez el que defina si se otorga un recupero de libertad -ya que la monja estará encarcelada- o una prisión domiciliaria, en caso que la defensa lo solicite.

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ARGENTINA
Associated Press

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — A Roman Catholic nun from Japan has been arrested and charged on suspicion of helping priests sexually abuse children at a school for youths with hearing disabilities in Argentina, authorities said.

Kosaka Kumiko was also charged with physically abusing the students at the Antonio Provolo Institute for children with hearing impairment in northwestern Mendoza province.

Kumiko, who was born in Japan but has Argentine citizenship, denied any wrongdoing during an eight-hour court hearing late Thursday. She was shown being led by police in handcuffs, and wearing her habit and a bullet-proof vest.

The case against Kumiko began after a former student accused her of making her wear a diaper to cover up a hemorrhage after she was allegedly raped by priest Horacio Corbacho.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Patch

By Lisa Redmond (Patch Staff) – May 5, 2017

LAWRENCE — The Central Catholic dean of students and basketball coach who was suspended for allegedly sending inappropriate messages to a former student has resigned, according a letter sent to the school community on Friday, the Eagle-Tribune reports.

Richard Nault, 45, was placed on adminstrative leave about a week ago amid allegations allegedly he sent inappropriate messages on Snapchat.

Nault has resigned from his position, effective April 26, according to the letter from Central Catholic President Christopher Sullivan.

Nault’s resignation comes in the wake of the school firing Andrew Nikonchuk, assistant principal for curriculum and instruction, following allegations that he had drugged and raped a former male student off campus in Lowell in 2006.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Globe

By James Duffy GLOBE CORRESPONDENT MAY 05, 2017

Richard Nault, the dean of students and basketball coach at Central Catholic, resigned Friday amid an investigation into his possible misconduct. Nault had been on administrative leave since Tuesday for allegedly sending inappropriate messages on Snapchat to a former student.

“I accepted Mr. Nault’s resignation with regret,” school president Christopher Sullivan said in a statement announcing the resignation. “Over recent months, Mr. Nault engaged a recent graduate and alumna of Central Catholic on a social media site, a practice that cannot be tolerated at our school.”

Nault, a 1990 graduate of Central Catholic, has guided the boys’ basketball team for 11 seasons, winning state championships in 2008 and 2010. Last season, Nault’s Raiders won the Merrimack Valley Conference Large Division and earned a berth in the Division 1 North final against Cambridge.

Nault was placed on leave during a misconduct investigation before resigning Friday.

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MASSACHUSETTS
CBS Boston

LAWRENCE (CBS) — The Dean of Students and Head Basketball Coach at private school in Lawrence has resigned amid allegations of inappropriate conduct.

Central Catholic High School parents were notified through an email on Friday afternoon that Richard Nault resigned from his positions at the school on April 26.

President Christopher Sullivan stated:

“I accepted Mr. Nault’s resignation with regret. Over recent months, Mr. Nault engaged a recent graduate and alumna of Central Catholic on a social media site, a practice that cannot be tolerated at our School. This lapse of good judgment, is the only incident or violation of the School’s faculty code by Mr. Nault in the eleven years he has been employed at Central. Mr. Nault has been forthcoming throughout the entire process.”

Nault’s resignation comes shortly after Andrew Nikonchuk, the school’s Director of Curriculum and Instruction, was fired. Nikonchuk has been accused of drugging and raping a student in 2006.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Eagle-Tribune

By Lisa Kashinsky lkashinsky@eagletribune.com

LAWRENCE — Richard Nault, one of the two Central Catholic High School staff members placed on leave last week pending the results of misconduct investigations, announced his resignation from the school on Friday.

School spokesman David DeFillippo released two statements Friday afternoon confirming the resignation, one from Nault and the other from Central Catholic President Christopher F. Sullivan.

“Today, it is with great sadness that I am announcing my resignation from Central Catholic High School as the Dean of Students and head basketball coach,” Nault said.

Nault was placed on leave last week along with social studies teacher John Housianitis as the misconduct investigations got underway. The school would not comment on Housianitis on Friday.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Herald

Dan Ventura Saturday, May 06, 2017

Embattled Central Catholic boys basketball coach and dean of students Rick Nault, who has been on administrative leave for sending an inappropriate message through social media to a former student, has submitted his resignation.

School president Christopher F. Sullivan said in a letter announcing the move that Nault engaged with a recent graduate of Central Catholic on a social media site, and called that “a practice that cannot be tolerated at our school.”

“This lapse of good judgment is the only incident of violation of the school’s faculty code by Mr. Nault in the 11 years he has been employed at Central. Mr. Nault has been forthcoming throughout the entire process,” Sullivan said, adding that he accepted Nault’s resignation “with regret.”

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NEW JERSEY
NJ.com

By Paul Milo | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

MORRISTOWN –A Long Valley man was sentenced Friday to seven years in prison for sexually grooming a 15-year-old girl he met through a Pennsylvania church, the Daily Record reported.

Christopher Remaly assaulted the girl in 2014, when he was 27. The victim said Remaly held himself up as a father figure and referred to her as his daughter. The victim also said she was a virgin at the time of the assault.

Remaly, a father of two children, previously had pleaded guilty to one count of sexual assault.

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NEW JERSEY
Daily Record

Peggy Wright, Daily Record

MORRISTOWN – Called “a beast” by his victim, a Long Valley resident who is a former youth group leader for a church in Pennsylvania was sentenced Friday to seven years in prison for seducing a 15-year-old girl he had groomed to regard him as a father figure.

Christopher Remaly, a service manager in the automotive industry, was 27 when he sexually assaulted the girl at his home in the Long Valley section of Washington Township in 2014. The victim was from a single-parent family when she met Remaly through the Pennsylvania church, and she told Superior Court Judge Thomas Critchley Jr. on Friday that Remaly told her he loved her and took her virginity.

“He called me his daughter,” the victim said of Remaly, who is married and has two small daughters of his own. She vowed not to let the entanglement with Remaly define her but she said she went through a period of despair and feelings of worthlessness.

“He broke me, he manipulated me, and stole things from me that I will never get back,” the victim said. “You can’t allow this animal to hurt someone else.”

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SOUTH CAROLINA
WSPA

GREENVILLE COUNTY, S.C. (WSPA) – Deputies have arrested a youth church van driver in connection with multiple sexual assaults on a girl in the 1980s.

62-year-old Timothy Lee Anders is charged with three counts of first degree Criminal Sexual Conduct with a Minor, four counts second degree Criminal Sexual Conduct with a Minor, and Lewd Act on a Child.

The Sheriff’s Office says Anders was working at Wrenn Memorial Baptist Church doing maintenance work and driving the church van for youth.

“Most children are sexually abused not by a stranger but by someone they know,” said Suzy Cole, Executive Director for the Children’s Advocacy Center, which serves Spartanburg, Cherokee, and Union Counties. “It’s really hard for them to open up and talk about that kind of abuse so it’s not uncommon for children to go a lifetime and never tell.”

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MISSISSIPPI
WDAM

BUCKATUNA, MS (WDAM) –
A former Wayne County pastor was sentenced Monday in Washington County Circuit Court in Alabama for several sex crimes.

Indictment tacks seven new sex charges against Wayne County pastor
Tommy Joe Newberry pled guilty to two first degree sodomy charges, a class-a felony, and two second degree sodomy charges, a class-b felony, according to Washington County Investigator Rickey Davidson.

Newberry was the former pastor of Red Creek Church of God in Buckatunna.

Newberry will report to the sheriff’s department June 6 and will then be transported to jail, according to Davidson.

He received 15 years for the class-a felonies, and 10 years for the class-b felonies.

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TEXAS
OA Online

Saturday, May 6, 2017 5:00 am
By Bob Campbell bcampbell@oaoa.com

Large numbers of church-goers live with the sexual abuse they suffered as children, Odessa ministers say, but never go to their pastors or seek the help they need.

As a result, their lives are often distorted by marital problems, drug and alcohol abuse and obsessive work that keeps those sensitive issues in the dark.

The Revs. Russell Nebhut, Mark Woodruff and Becky Hand and support group leader Kim Baker say a reassuring atmosphere is necessary for the victim to confide in a pastor or counselor.

“Once they realize there is a safe environment where they can be honest about their past, they’re usually ready to talk about the hurts,” Nebhut said. “That opens them up to deal with a lot of different issues. For some it’s anger, for others a sense of helplessness whenever they think about the abuse from when they were 8, 10 or 12 years old. For all of them, there is a lack of self-worth.
“It took me 35 years to finally admit it and share it with someone,” said Nebhut, explaining that he was sexually exploited as a child. “Abused people tend to be driven Type A over-achievers who get some sense of value because of what they’re accomplishing. But inside, they’re dying.”

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AUSTRALIA
The Weekend Australian

THE WEEKEND AUSTRALIAN, MAY 6-7, 2017.
STORY: GREG BEARUP

There have been many grim days for Francis Sullivan over the past few years, but none worse than the day in 2015 when Gerald Ridsdale’s face was broadcast live into a Ballarat hearing room from Victoria’s Ararat prison. Sullivan works for the Catholic Church as the CEO of its Truth, Justice and Healing Council, and is tasked with dealing with the almighty mess of child abuse.

On this day, the Royal Commission into ­Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse wanted answers from Ridsdale about what his superiors knew and when. Ridsdale is a child rapist, a Catholic priest convicted of abusing more than 50 kids, some as young as four. The first complaints to the church about his abuse were in the early 1960s, within a year of his ordination, and each time his crimes became an embarrassment he was shifted to a fresh parish where he offended again.

Sullivan, 60, was in the room with the victims, many of whom he’s come to know. He freely hands out his business card with his phone ­number on it. They call at all hours and he listens. “It was the middle of winter, an already bleak day in Ballarat,” he explains, “and Ridsdale’s image was beamed onto a big screen in the [royal commission] hearing room packed with many of his ­victims. It was the first time many had seen him since they were children and they were people my age. Some were dressed in their Sunday best, some as best they could.”

They sat, eyes glued to the screen, seeking answers. “The most galling thing was that he played them all again; the way he gave his evidence was so manipulative and I thought, ‘God, these poor blokes, this is so terribly upsetting for me, and he did nothing to me – what must it be like for them?’ ” After all Ridsdale had put them through, he was not prepared to offer the solace of truth about how his offending had gone unchecked for so long. “I remember leaving the hearing and really feeling quite disoriented,” Sullivan says. “I looked at these poor blokes outside with the media all over them like a rash, which is good for them on one level, but then the circus moved on. They left and went back to their broken lives… I felt really, really bad that day.”

Sullivan trudged back to his hotel room, opened a bottle of red and wrote a poem, trying to make some sense of the misery. He thought about the failings of the church, an institution he still believes in. He thought, My mob has got to change.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

Joanne McCarthy
6 May 2017

ST Pius X High School at Adamstown has removed formal references to former principal and Catholic priest Patrick Helferty after former students alleged he knew about the child sex offending of fellow priest John Denham.

Principal Robert Emergy advised parents this week that the school’s executive had renamed one of the school’s houses – a student grouping – from Helferty House to Murray House (after former Maitland Bishop James Murray) following a complaint from one former student and release of a book, The Priests, by another former student, James Miller.

“This change of name has been made because there are public allegations that the house patron, Father Helferty, was aware of the sexual abuse of students that occurred at St Pius X in his time there in the 1970s and 1980s,” Mr Emery said.

“It is alleged that Father Helferty failed to act to stop the abuse. Since Father Helferty is deceased these allegations will remain as allegations.”

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MARYLAND
City Paper

Tom Nugent
City Paper

No one knows who bashed-in Sister Cathy Cesnik’s head and left her in a Landsdowne ditch 47 years ago. But everyone who has looked at the case in the past two decades or so thinks it’s a good bet that the parish priest murdered the young nun, probably because she was going to blow the whistle on the priest’s sexual abuse of young girls at the school where she taught.

Yesterday, authorities exhumed the body of Father A. Joseph Maskell, dead 16 years, to obtain his DNA and test it against evidence found in Cesnik’s case.

“Maskell was a player in this scenario that we needed to take a look at so,” Elise Armacost of the Baltimore County Police told WJZ. “This was a step that we needed to take.”

Maskell’s brother was a city cop, and Father Maskell was friends with a lot of other cops. One of the sexual abuse allegations was that Maskell forced students to have sex with a cop.

On May 19, Netflix premieres a seven-part documentary about murder of Cesnik called “The Keepers.”

Below is a reprint of City Paper’s 2005 piece detailing Cesnik’s murder, the alleged abuse—and the murder, just a few weeks after Cesnik disappeared, of another woman who might have known something about the sexual abuse. (Edward Ericson Jr.)

The old man sat on a metal folding chair in his Essex garage. His big right hand reached out to a wooden table, to a faded police autopsy photo lying there.

“Do you see that hole in the back of her skull?” asked Louis George “Bud” Roemer, a retired homicide detective formerly with the Baltimore County Police Department. Wrinkled and white-haired, he pointed to one side of the yellowing photograph he had dug out of a box of files. “That hole is perfectly round, and about the size of a quarter.

“I’ve studied that photo over and over again, trying to imagine how she might have died,” he said. “A hole like that—it looks to me like it could’ve been made with a ball-peen hammer.”

He paused for a moment, as he recalled the still unsolved murder of Sister Catherine Ann Cesnik, whose body was discovered 35 years ago this month.

“It might have been a hammer,” Roemer continued. “Or maybe a tire iron. Or maybe it was a priest’s ring—one of those heavy gold rings a lot of Catholic priests wear. A priest’s ring would make a hole like that, if he hit her hard enough.”

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UNITED STATES/CANADA/ITALY
BishopAccountability.org

Summary: Robert J. Post was a member of the Congregation of Christian Brothers (Irish Christian Brothers) entering at the age of 17 in 1955, and taking his perpetual vows in 1965. He taught in Canada, Italy and the United States, serving for a time as assistant principal of Bishop Gibbons High School in Schenectady, NY, then as principal of Blessed Sacrament High School in New Rochelle. He left the order to pursue priesthood and, in 1982, was ordained for the Diocese of Bridgeport, CT.

“Fr. Bob” served as an assistant or was in residence at parishes in Bethel, Darien and Stamford, was spiritual director for numerous high schools, including in Norwalk and Danbury. Post spent every August for many years, beginning in 1987, at St. Susanna’s in Rome as a summer associate with the Paulist Fathers. For a time he was Master of Ceremonies for the Bridgeport diocese. He was also a fire department chaplain and he regularly celebrated mass for the Little Workers of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary sisters in Stamford.

Post was accused in a 2007 lawsuit of having engaged in improper behavior with male Blessed Sacrament students in the 1970s. By 2012 at least one former student had come forward alleging that he had been sexually abused by Post as a teenager, when Post was a religious brother. Two more men emerged with similar claims. The three were part of a legal case against the Irish Christian Brothers.

Post’s status and whereabouts during 2013-2015 are unclear. As of 2016 he was retired and living at a priests’ retirement residence in Stamford.

Perpetual Vows as Christian Brother: 1965
Ordained: 1982

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ILLINOIS
Aurora Beacon-News

Dan Campana
Aurora Beacon-News

A judge has set a late-July trial date in the child sex abuse case of former Aurora priest Alfredo Pedraza Arias, court records show.

Arias, 50, has pleaded not guilty to a five-count indictment alleging aggravated criminal sexual abuse. He is accused of fondling two children under the age of 13 at Sacred Heart Church, as well as one at one of the youth’s homes, between 2012 and 2014. He is free on $50,000 bail and prohibited from having contact with anyone under the age of 18. Kane County prosecutors charged Arias in February 2016.

The Rockford Diocese, which includes Kane County, previously explained that Arias had been out of the ministry since October of 2014,when police and the diocese began investigating allegations against him. Arias also worked in Aurora at Our Lady of Good Counsel and DeKalb’s Hispanic Ministry, according to the diocese.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Spare Change News

By Jordan Frias

After working in Catholic education for nearly 40 years, Paul Doty, a former principal and educator of three religious schools in Boston, has been accused of sexual abuse by five men from South Boston.

According to attorney Mitchell Garabedian, the attorney representing the five men, the alleged abuse by Doty occurred while he was principal of the former St. Augustine’s School from 1986 to 1996, when his accusers were between the ages of seven and 14.

“The question remains, where were the supervisors of Mr. Doty and why weren’t they paying attention? I’ve asked the Archdiocese of Boston to look into this,” said Garabedian, who is known for helping the Boston Globe expose abusive priests in its 2002 Spotlight reports.

While in Massachusetts, Doty was principal of Charlestown Catholic School and St. Patrick’s School in Roxbury. He went on to work at elementary schools in Alabama, Ohio and Kentucky after leaving the Boston area.

Archdiocese of Boston spokesman Terrence Donilon said the church promptly notified law enforcement, as they do with all claims of child abuse, in this instance.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

May 6, 2017

GREG BEARUP
South Asia correspondent
@gbearup

Despite shocking revelations of widespread abuse within the Catholic Church, there are priests who believe the royal commission into child abuse has been a “hatchet job” and one has blamed “homosexuals and liberals” for the church’s woes.

In February, it was revealed in the royal commission that 4445 people had made complaints against almost 2000 alleged Catholic perpetrators; in one order, the St John of God Brothers, 40 per cent of the clergy had allegedly abused children.

However, Glen Tattersall, a Melbourne-based parish priest, told The Weekend Australian that many Catholics were angry with the way the royal commission has dealt with the church.

Father Tattersall, a former ­office bearer in the conservative Australian Confraternity of Catholic Clergy, said: “I think people are quite angry about the way the church has been dealt with, actually. They consider it has been pretty much set up.”

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

May 4 2017

Philomena Lee has spoken of her disbelief at the Order of the Sisters of Charity involvement with the new National Maternity Hospital.

Ms Lee – who was the subject of the Oscar-nominated film ‘Philomena’ – told the Irish Independent that she believed the order’s nuns were “digging their heels in” to hold onto ownership of the hospital.

“I only heard this through my sisters the other day and it’s gone crazy,” she said. “They ran the Magdalene Laundries and they were horrific altogether. I don’t think the Church should be involved in running hospitals, I mean they ran the homes.

“We never knew what was going on, they never told us anything, you believed every word you were told,” she added.

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IRELAND
Evening Echo

THE revelation that the Sisters of Charity will be given ownership of the new National Maternity Hospital has sparked outrage across the country.

City councillor and Ballyphehane native Marion O’Sullivan, who attended St Patrick’s Mother and Baby Home in Dublin back in the ’70s, fought to be able to keep her baby after a taking a stand against those in authority.

Now she is encouraging others to do the same, albeit on a mass scale. She recalled her reaction after hearing about proposals for the new facility.

“I was filled with rage,” she said. “I kept asking myself ‘how can they do this happen again?’ The sisters say they can’t have input into the running of this hospital. Nonetheless, after their failure to pay redress money we can’t believe what we’re being told.

“We are seeing this happening in America – a far more liberal country – so there’s no telling what could happen if we don’t make our voices heard. With this in mind, we can’t be sure the hospital won’t have to adhere to a Catholic ethos.”

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MARYLAND
Washington Post

By Tom Jackman May 5

The body of a Catholic priest from Baltimore, whose sexual assaults on teenaged girls in the 1960s and 1970s caused the Archdiocese of Baltimore to pay out a dozen settlements last year, has been exhumed by Baltimore County police still trying to solve the 1969 slaying of Sister Catherine Ann Cesnik, police said Thursday.

Cesnik’s death has long been one of Baltimore’s most puzzling homicides, and is the focus of a new documentary series, “The Keepers,” to be released on Netflix on May 19. The longtime suspect in her death is the Rev. A. Joseph Maskell, who was the chaplain at Archbishop Keough High School in Baltimore and also a chaplain for the police in both Baltimore city and county. He was removed from priestly duties in 1992 when allegations of sexual abuse against him were first made to the church, he fled the country in 1994, and was never charged with a crime before his death in 2001.

Baltimore County police spokeswoman Elise Armacost said Thursday that detectives had been working actively on the case for the last four years, in part because of continuing tips about sexual abuse at Keough, and that the timing of the exhumation of the body on Feb. 28 was not related to the Netflix documentary. “As part of the effort to leave no stone unturned,” Armacost said, “our homicide detectives asked the state’s attorney to approve an order to exhume the body of A. Joseph Maskell so we could take a DNA sample and work up a DNA profile to see if it would match remaining evidence” in the Cesnik case. “If it does, it’s a huge step in this investigation.”

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MASSACHUSETTS
The Pilot

ON: 5/5/2017, BY MARK LABBE PILOT STAFF

LAWRENCE — An administrator at Central Catholic High School in Lawrence fired for violating the “school’s policies pertaining to appropriate social boundaries between students and faculty,” is now under investigation for allegedly raping a boy when he was a student at the school.

The firing of Andrew Nikonchuk, director of curriculum and instruction at Central Catholic, was originally announced April 25 in a newsletter to school alumni.

In the newsletter, which doesn’t note any particular incident, Central Catholic’s president Christopher F. Sullivan said that the school “has adhered to the state’s mandated reporting laws and is cooperating fully with the Office of the District Attorney and local law enforcement.”

The Associated Press reported last week that Lowell Police and the Middlesex County District Attorney’s Office are now investigating allegations by a 2008 graduate of the school that Nikonchuk drugged and raped him in 2006.

Allegations involving two other staff members, dean of students and basketball coach Richard Nault and social-studies teacher John Housiantis, have also surfaced following the firing of Nikonchuk, resulting in both staff members being placed on leave, according to reports by the Eagle Tribune.

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CHILE
Irish Independent

Kathy Armstrong
May 5 2017

A paedophile Irish priest has been ordered to leave Chile after sexually assaulting a young girl.
The Chilean Supreme Court has ruled that Fr John O’Reilly (71) must be deported from the country after 25 years and his citizenship will be taken off him.

O’Reilly was convicted in 2014 of of molesting a young girl between 2007 and 2011, while he worked as a spiritual guide at the Cumbres school in Santiago. His name was added to a national paedophile registry which intended to keep him from working with children.

The Supreme Court rejected an appeal against his deportation on Wednesday.

A statement from the court’s authorities said: “The Third Supreme Court overturns the ruling of the Santiago Court of Appeals and authorises the expulsion of Fr John O’Reilly, once he completes the four year supervised release term to which he has been sentenced.”

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CHILE
The Irish Sun

By Owen Conlon
5th May 2017

A PERVERT Irish priest who abused a young girl will have 72 hours to leave Chile once his supervised parole there ends in 2018.

The South American country’s Supreme Court endorsed the expulsion of sicko John O’Reilly, 71.

It follows a decision by authorities to strip him of his Chilean citizenship, which he obtained after living there for 25 years.

O’Reilly was placed under a supervision order in 2014 for repeatedly abusing the five-year-old at an exclusive school in the capital Santiago. He had been working as the school’s spiritual adviser.

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TEXAS
News4SanAntonio

HOUSTON —
Court documents provide sickening details of sexual assaults allegedly carried out by 55-year-old Barry Durrell, a volunteer and an ordained deacon at a Houston church.

Police say the victims in the complaint — two boys, ages two and seven — are likely not the only child victims.

Durrell is behind bars on charges of continuous sexual abuse of a child and aggravated sexual assault of a child under six years of age.

“The evil person here is this suspect,” Officer Lee Donovan of the Houston Police Department’s Special Victims Division said. “His main point of everything he did was to gain the trust of people in that community, to gain the trust of the people who worked at that church before anything happened.”

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AUSTRALIA
Eureka Street

Andrew Hamilton | 04 May 2017

The government and the Catholic Church both face difficulties when commending values. The difficulties will dog events during the next week in which both institutions are on public display — the bringing down of the budget and the meeting of the Australian Catholics Bishops Conference.

LighthouseIn each case the difficulty has its roots in defects of governance: a lack of leadership, authority, transparency and inclusiveness. When the government appeals to values with respect to the Australian community or education, its appeal is commonly assumed to mask electoral self-interest and internal party conflict. That underlying its rhetoric is a lack of transparency, inclusiveness and authority is taken for granted.

When representatives of the Catholic Church appeal to values in public life, in sexuality and in education, their appeal is often thought to mask hypocrisy — the assertion of high values that it does not practice — and amnesia about its record of betrayal of the principles of good governance in its exercise of authority. The revelations of the royal commission into child abuse hangs over the bishops’ meeting.

Both the government and the Catholic Church will be tempted to carry on business as usual, postponing any concerted attempt to deal with the issues of governance they face until the election and the handing down of the findings of the royal commission respectively.

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AUSTRALIA
Northern Daily Leader

Breanna Chillingworth
@breannachill

5 May 2017

AN EX-PRIEST has been extradited from Queensland to face historical sex offences upon young boys in the New England.

David Joseph Perrett was charged on Friday afternoon by Armidale detectives in Tenterfield with nine counts of indecent assault upon a male.

Detectives allege the 79-year-old former Catholic priest assaulted four young boys between 1970 and 1982 in Armidale and Guyra.

New England Inspector Roger Best said the lengthy investigation by detectives culminated in an arrest on Thursday.

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WISCONSIN
LaCrosse Tribune

ANNE JUNGEN ajungen@lacrossetribune.com May 3, 2017

A former Catholic school administrator from La Crosse has been charged with sexually assaulting a teenage boy in Marathon County.

Steven Smolek, 59, of La Crosse admitted that he had sexually assaulted the 16-year-old in January 2015 while living in Mosinee, Wis., according to the complaint filed April 6 in Marathon County Circuit Court.

Smolek served as assistant superintendent of schools for the Diocese of La Crosse from Aug. 26, 2015, until his resignation on Nov. 23, two days after he told La Crosse police investigators that he molested the teen.

Police did not find any victims in La Crosse.

“We have been informed by law enforcement that there is no connection between Mr. Smolek’s charges and his employment and conduct with the Diocese of La Crosse or its schools,” according to a statement from the Diocese. “During the time he was employed by the Diocese and after, no complaints were ever made to the Diocese about any of his actions as a Diocesan employee.”

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WISCONSIN
U.S. News

LA CROSSE, Wis. (AP) — A former Catholic school administrator from western Wisconsin has been charged with enticing a teenager for sex.

Court documents allege 59-year-old Steven Smolek told police he chatted online with a 16-year-old boy and met him while living in Mosinee in January 2015. Charges against Smolek include child enticement and sexual intercourse with a child.

Smolek served as the Diocese of La Crosse’s assistant superintendent of schools for over a year until he resigned on Nov. 23, two days after he spoke with police, The La Crosse Tribune (http://bit.ly/2qGmIz0 ) reported. Diocese officials said police determined there was no connection between the criminal allegations and Smolek’s work with the diocese and its schools.

No working phone numbers could be found for Smolek by The Associated Press on Thursday to seek comment. The local court clerk said the case file didn’t list a defense attorney for him.

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ARKANSAS
Associated Press

BY KELLY P. KISSEL
ASSOCIATED PRESS

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Tony Alamo, a one-time street preacher whose apocalyptic ministry grew into a multimillion-dollar network of businesses and property before he was convicted in Arkansas of sexually abusing girls he considered his wives, has died in prison. He was 82.

Once known for designing elaborately decorated jackets for celebrities including Michael Jackson and Elvis Presley, Alamo died on Tuesday at a federal prison hospital in Butner, North Carolina, according to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.

The disgraced preacher was convicted in 2009 on charges that accused him of taking girls across state lines for sex, including a 9-year-old girl. The judge who sentenced him to the maximum 175 years in prison told him: “One day you will face a higher and a greater judge than me. May he have mercy on your soul.”

Alamo started preaching along the California streets in the 1960s, advocating a mixture of virulent anti-Catholicism and apocalyptic rhetoric. He claimed God authorized polygamy, professed that gays were the tools of Satan, and believed girls were fit for marriage.

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NEW JERSEY
Asbury Park Press

Alex N. Gecan , @GeeksterTweets May 3, 2017

TRENTON – An East Windsor rabbi who formerly taught at a Marlboro religious school is facing charges of sexually assaulting and endangering two minors.

Menachem A. Chinn, 40, of East Windsor is facing two counts each of sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a child, the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office and East Windsor Township Police Department announced Wednesday. All charges are based out of East Windsor.

Chinn formerly taught at Shalom Torah Academy in Marlboro, which maintains a tuition and donation office in Lakewood. Chinn also taught at the academy’s East Windsor location before it closed, according to Mercer County officials.

East Windsor police first charged Chinn on April 20 for one count each of assault and endangerment after a joint investigation with the county prosecutor’s Special Victim’s Unit, according to an April 21 announcement.

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NEW JERSEY
CentralJersey.com

By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer May 4, 2017

A 36-year-old East Windsor Township man who allegedly molested a young boy is facing additional charges after a second victim stepped forward with similar claims, according to Mercer County Prosecutor Angelo Onofri and East Windsor Township Police Chief James A. Geary.

Menachem A. Chinn, 40, of East Windsor Township and who teaches at the Shalom Torah Academy in Monmouth County, was charged last month with one count each of endangering the welfare of a child and sexual assault in an incident involving a 12-year-old boy. The alleged assault occurred at Chinn’s home in 2012.

A second victim, who is now an adult, has stepped forward and alleged that Chinn had inappropriate sexual contact with him on several occasions at Chinn’s home between July 2010 and May 2011, said Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office spokeswoman Casey DeBlasio.

As a result, Chinn has been charged with an additional count of endangering the welfare of a child and an additional count of sexual assault, DeBlasio said. Chinn had been the second victim’s teacher and youth group religious mentor.

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NEW JERSEY
New Jersey 101.5

By Dan Alexander May 3, 2017

EAST WINDSOR — A second person has claimed to have been sexually assaulted by a teacher of a Marlboro Jewish school inside his home.

Menachem Chinn, 40, was arrested in April at his East Windsor home after he was charged with the first incident, which the victim said occurred at Chinn’s home in 2012.

A second male came forward after the media reports about the first allegation and claimed he had also been inappropriately touched at Chinn’s home “numerous times” between July 2010 and May 2011, according to Mercer County Prosecutor Angelo Onofri.

Chin is now charged with two counts of both endangering the welfare of a child and of sexual assault. He was being held Wednesday at the Mercer County Corrections Center.

Onofri said both males were under 18 at the time and are now adults.

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MARYLAND
Fox Baltimore

by Christine Boynton

BALTIMORE (WBFF) – The body of Joseph Maskell, a Baltimore-area priest who died in 2001, has been exhumed as part of a murder investigation, police confirm.

The death of Sister Catherine Ann Cesnik, now the subject of a Netflix series, remains under investigation.

Cesnik was reported missing on November 7, 1969 and her decomposing body was found in Lansdowne on January 3, 1970.

A former student at Archbishop Keough High School came forward in the 1990s claiming that she had confided in Cesnik about being sexually abused by the priest, shortly before her disappearance.

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MARYLAND
Daily Mail (UK)

By Jennifer Smith For Dailymail.com

Baltimore detectives have exhumed the body of a priest as part of the investigation into the unsolved murder of a nun whose 1969 killing is the subject of Netflix’s latest true-crime series, threatening to spoil the entire documentary before it even airs.

Father Joseph Maskell was exhumed from a Baltimore cemetery on February 28.

Baltimore County homicide detectives took a sample of his DNA immediately to test it against evidence found near the body of Sister Cathy Cessnik.

Sister Cathy was found dead at a garbage dump in November 1969, two months after she vanished. Her murder has haunted the community for years and is the subject of the The Keepers: Who Killed Sister Cathy? which will launch on the streaming site on May 19.

Police expect a result on the DNA test by the end of next week and say it will be a ‘huge breakthrough’ if Maskell’s sample matches the evidence found at the scene.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse

Preliminary hearings in relation to four investigations will be held between Tuesday 9 May and Tuesday 6 June at the International Dispute Resolution Centre (IDRC).

The hearings will commence at 10.30am in relation to the following investigations:

Tuesday 9 May – Child Migration Programme case study (part of the Children Outside the UK Investigation)

* Wednesday 10 May – Cambridge House, Knowl View and Rochdale

* Thursday 11 May – Children in the care of Nottinghamshire Councils

* Tuesday 6 June – Benedictine case study (part of the Roman Catholic Church Investigation)

The Preliminary Hearings will be held in the International Dispute Resolution Centre (IDRC), 70 Fleet Street, London, EC4Y 1EU. The IDRC is a 10 minute walk from Blackfriars underground station (Circle and District Line) and five minutes from City Thameslink. Directions and location are here: https://www.idrc.co.uk/location.aspx

Preliminary hearings will not be broadcast, but they are open to the press and public. Seats are allocated on a first come, first served basis.

For information on attending a preliminary hearing, please read this document or for more information on preliminary hearings, please read the information note on each of the Investigation pages on our website.

You can see the agenda for the Child Migration Programmes preliminary hearing here.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Nottingham Post

The chair of an investigation into historic child sex abuse claims at care homes in Nottinghamshire will announce key parties in the inquiry next week.

Professor Alexis Jay, chair of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), will announce the investigation’s ‘core participants’ at a preliminary hearing at the International Dispute Resolution Centre in London on Thursday, May 11.

IICSA defines a ‘core participant’ as “an individual, organisation or institution that “played, or may have played a direct or significant role” in relation to the inquiry. It comes after an open process was launched in March, asking people to come forward.

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ITALIA
Rete L’Abuso

[Pedophile priests: Who in Italy does not see them?]

Riflessioni ad ampio raggio di Francesco Troccoli a partire dai due libri di Federico Tulli

La pedofilia è annullamento della realtà umana del bambino. L’affermazione dello psichiatra Massimo Fagioli è stata il leitmotif della nuova presentazione romana (lo scorso 28 aprile alla libreria Feltrinelli di viale Libia) dei due volumi di Federico Tulli, editi dall’Asino d’Oro («Chiesa e pedofilia, non lasciate che i pargoli vadano a loro» del 2010 e «Chiesa e pedofilia, il caso italiano» del 2014) organizzata sulla scia della pandemia di episodi di pedofilia e relativa copertura di preti pedofili da parte della Chiesa cattolica, non ultimo il caso di Carlos Buela, accusato di pedofilia nel suo Paese, l’Argentina, e oggi comodamente ospitato in totale impunità presso la parrocchia di San Teodoro, a Genova, nella diocesi del cardinal Bagnasco. Il tutto in un clima che vede il nuovo pontefice oggetto di reiterati proclami di marketing all’insegna del (questo sì, abusato) motto per azioni di “tolleranza zero” che – stando alla testimonianza dei diretti interessati (le vittime) – restano puntualmente privi di riscontro.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Philly.com

by Jeremy Roebuck, STAFF WRITER @jeremyrroebuck | jroebuck@phillynews.com

The rector of a Delaware County retirement home for Philadelphia Archdiocese priests admitted in federal court Thursday that he embezzled more than a half-million dollars from the residence over nearly nine years.

Wearing his priest collar, Msgr. William A. Dombrow told U.S District Judge Gerald J. Pappert that he siphoned funds from a private account set up to support Villa St. Joseph, the facility in Darby Borough that also houses priests who have been accused of sexual abuse. He pleaded guilty to four counts of wire fraud.

Much of the money that flowed into that account came from life insurance payouts of priests who had died while residing there or bequests from the estates of parishioners.

Dombrow’s theft was discovered last year after the bank that administered the account flagged several suspicious transactions at Harrah’s Philadelphia Casino & Racetrack, in Chester, and notified the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

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MARYLAND
Associated Press

TOWSON, Md. (AP) — Authorities in Maryland say they have exhumed a priest’s body as part of an investigation into the decades-old slaying of a Baltimore nun.

Media outlets report that Baltimore County police dug up A. Joseph Maskell’s grave in February to extract material for a DNA profile. The development was first reported by WJZ-TV.

Police said in February that they were again conducting interviews in the slaying of 26-year-old Sister Catherine Ann Cesnik, whose decomposing body was found in a Lansdowne field in 1970. The case is the subject of the upcoming Netflix documentary, “The Keepers.”

Investigators want to compare the DNA of Maskell, who died in 2001, to evidence from the crime scene. Police spokeswoman Elisa Armacost says results will take up to six more weeks.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The rector of a church-owned retirement home for Roman Catholic priests has admitted embezzling a half-million dollars to pay for casino visits, high-end dinners and Philadelphia Pops concerts.

Monsignor William A. Dombrow pleaded guilty Thursday to four federal wire fraud counts for skimming money over nine years from a Villa St. Joseph account he controlled.

The Philadelphia Archdiocese runs the facility in Darby to house aging priests and treat those accused of sexual abuse.

Federal prosecutors say much of the stolen money came from insurance payments for priests who died and parishioners’ estates.

Lawyer Coley Reynolds says the 77-year-old priest agreed to cooperate as soon as he was confronted.

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TEXAS
KHOU

May 03, 2017

HOUSTON – Houston Police say an ordained church deacon has been arrested in a child sex assault investigation, and investigators are now looking for other possible victims.

Charges are filed against Barry Todd Durrell, 55, for at least two sexual assault incidents in Houston since May 2016, according to HPD. He is charged with super aggravated sexual assault and continuous sexual abuse of a child.

According to HPD, Durrell is a deacon where the two incidents occurred at the West Houston Seventh Day Adventist Church on West Sam Houston Parkway North.

Durrell is accused of taking a 2-year-old boy into a closet at the church where he sexually assaulted him in May 2016. The mom found the child and the deacon alone in the closet.

A second male victim, 7, came forward in Feb. 2017 and told family members about ongoing assaults, and that’s when the HPD investigation got underway. Durrell was arrested in March and confessed to the crimes, according to HPD.

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AUSTRALIA
Manny Waks

​4 May 2017

The Australian Jewish News today broke the news that a former Bialik College and current Mount Scopus College teacher was arrested and charged with a range of non-contact child sexual abuse offences (producing and possessing child pornography).

I would like to applaud the schools for responding effectively and expeditiously to these serious allegations. In particular, after speaking with both principals, Bialik’s Mr Jeremy Stowe-Lindner and Mt. Scopus’ Rabbi James Kennard, it was heartening to hear of their respective school’s immediate and ongoing response. It seems clear to me that both of these schools are handling this difficult matter appropriately. In particular, police and other stakeholders were immediately notified, support offered to their respective communities and more. I know that these schools will take this opportunity to review their policies and other matters to ensure best practice is maintained at all times. As we have repeatedly seen, there is always room for improvement, and I am sure that this will be treated as an opportunity for all schools to learn and to share for our mutual benefit.

It is also clear to me that we seemed to have learned from the mistakes of the past. Police and other stakeholders were immediately notified, support offered their respective community, and more. I know that these schools will take this opportunity to review their policies and other matters to ensure best practice is maintained at all times. As we have repeatedly seen, there is always room for improvement, and this is a perfect opportunity to learn, and hopefully share so we can all learn.

This is also an opportune time to remember that no segment of the community is immune from the scourge of child sexual abuse. We must all maintain vigilance in protecting our children, and supporting all those who have been impacted by it. We must ensure that all organisations who interact with children have appropriate policies and procedures in place, and that these are implemented. But we must also not leave all the work to our institutions; it is the responsibility of each and every one of us. If we are aware or suspect child sexual abuse of any nature has occurred or is occurring, whether in an institution or in a home, we must immediately report this information to the police.

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AUSTRALIA
Australian Jewish News

A current Mount Scopus teacher has been charged by Victoria Police after inappropriate pornographic material was allegedly uncovered by his former employer, Bialik College.

Police have confirmed to The AJN that a 52-year-old man from Noble Park has been charged with Make/Produce Child Porn and Posses Child Pornography.

“Box Hill Sexual Offences and Child Abuse Investigation Team (SOCIT) detectives have charged a man following an investigation into child pornography and upskirting incidents at an Eastern suburbs school.

“It is alleged the incidents took place between 2014 and 2017,” Police told The AJN.

Mount Scopus said in a letter to parents that the staff member “has already been suspended”.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Zeit

Von Katja Bernardy und Hannes Leitlein
3. Mai 2017

[His pastor should abused him but he cannot prove it. How is the church to deal with a suspected perpetrator who has abused but has never been condemned. It is a delicate case in the Trier diocese.]

Im Frühjahr 2006 kauft Michael W. eine Prepaidkarte, um den Priester Otmar M. telefonisch anzuzeigen. W. will unerkannt bleiben, er hat Angst. Was, wenn am Ende Aussage gegen Aussage steht? Wenn sich das Blatt wendet und der Pfarrer ihn wegen Rufmords anzeigt und er, das Opfer, als Täter dasteht? Michael W. wählt die Nummer der Pressestelle des Landeskriminalamtes in Saarbrücken. Am Telefon beschuldigt er Priester Otmar M., ihn seit 1998 mehrfach sexuell belästigt zu haben. Er erzählt seine ganze Geschichte, nennt Orte, Namen, kommt ins Reden – und verplappert sich. Sein Plan, anonym zu bleiben, geht schief. Die Frau am Telefon versichert ihm, die Zuständigen zu informieren. Die Staatsanwaltschaft leitet ein Ermittlungsverfahren gegen Pfarrer M. ein. Wenige Monate später wird das Verfahren wegen Verjährung eingestellt.

Sieben weitere Male ist Pfarrer M. seitdem bei der Staatsanwaltschaft angezeigt worden, zweimal vom Bistum Trier selbst. Die Vorwürfe reichen von illegalem Waffenbesitz bis zum schweren sexuellen Missbrauch einer Grundschülerin. Zu einer Anklage ist es nie gekommen. Alle Verfahren wurden inzwischen von der Staatsanwaltschaft Saarbrücken eingestellt – das letzte Anfang April 2017 –, weil entweder die mutmaßliche Tat zu lange zurück lag oder der Anfangsverdacht keine Anklage rechtfertigte oder die Staatsanwaltschaft eine Verurteilung für unwahrscheinlich hielt. Kirchenintern dauern die Ermittlungen noch an.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Epoch Times

[Cardinal Marx sees failure in abuse scandal “unfortunately only in retrospect.”]

Der Vorsitzende der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz, Münchens Erzbischof Kardinal Reinhard Marx, sieht den Umgang der katholischen Kirche mit Missbrauchsvorwürfen selbstkritisch.

„Für die Kirche und auch für mich selbst war es ein schmerzhafter Lernprozess, vor allem und in allem von der Perspektive der Opfer her zu denken und zu handeln“, sagte Marx der Wochenzeitung „Die Zeit“ laut einer Vorabmeldung vom Mittwoch.

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TENNESSEE
Cannon Courier

May 3, 2017

MIKE WEST
Courier Editor

A series of Scientology Church operated facilities have been permanently closed in Cannon County and three suspects charged in the case.

“The Cannon County Sheriff’s Department would like to make the general public of this county aware that the Scientology facilities are closed and not operating in Cannon County,” a statement from the Sheriff’s office said.

The 16th Judicial District of the state of Tennessee, Cannon County, has charged three suspects in the case. Two of the three, Dennis Flamond and Hans Snyder Lytle, entered guilty pleas in General Sessions Court on two counts of false imprisonment.

The third suspect, Marc Vallieres, was charged with two felony charges of facilitation to kidnapping in Circuit Court. Vallieres pleaded “by information” in Circuit Court.

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MARYLAND
The Baltimore Sun

Alison Knezevich
The Baltimore Sun

The grave of a priest who died in 2001 has been dug up as part of the investigation into the slaying of a Baltimore nun more than 40 years ago, Baltimore County police say.

A. Joseph Maskell’s body was exhumed, county police spokeswoman Elise Armacost said. County police are handling the cold case of Sister Catherine Ann Cesnik, whose body was found in Lansdowne in 1970.

The case is the subject of the upcoming Netflix documentary “The Keepers,” which premieres May 19.

In the 1990s, a woman who came forward with allegations of abuse by the priest — who worked at Archbishop Keough High School — implicated him in the nun’s death.

Last year, The Baltimore Sun reported that the Archdiocese of Baltimore reached settlements with about a dozen people who said they were sexually abused by Maskell.

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SCOTLAND
Daily Record

BY JAMES MONCUR
4 MAY 2017

Survivors are planning to hold their own independent inquiry into historic child abuse in Scotland.

Some victims’ groups have lost faith in the Scottish Government ’s under-fire probe and held a summit in Perth yesterday to discuss staging their own inquiry.

Andy Peacher of the Fresh Start Foundation, set up to help child sex abuse victims achieve justice, said: “Many survivors want to give evidence but are scared – there is a lack of confidence in the system. How can the inquiry claim to be independent when it’s government funded?

“We want to get all survivors together and launch our own, fully independent inquiry.”

The Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry has already cost over £3million and is due to begin hearing testimony this month. But it has been beset with problems, with three of the original four-person committee resigning.

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MARYLAND
Radio Times

By James Gill
Thursday 4 May 2017

On 7 November 1969, Sister Cathy Cesnik, a Catholic nun and popular schoolteacher at a Baltimore high school, went missing. Two months later, her body was found in a dump five miles from her home, with a blow to the back of her skull.

The murderer was never found.

Now new Netflix documentary series The Keepers picks up the case, speaking to dozens of Sister Cathy’s friends, former students and people who for nearly 50 years have tried to uncover what happened, who is responsible, and why the truth has never been revealed.

Find out more about the series and the story behind it below.

What happened to Sister Cathy?

Sister Cathy taught English and drama at Archbishop Keough High School, a traditional high school in Baltimore.

On the night of her disappearance, Cathy left her apartment telling her flatmate she was going out to buy a present for her cousin, who had just got engaged.

At 11pm, when Cathy had still not returned, her flatmate called two of their priest friends who came over and notified the police. Later that night, Cathy’s car was found unlocked and parked illegally a short distance from her flat. However, Cathy herself was nowhere to be found.

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MARYLAND
CBS Baltimore

May 3, 2017 By Denise Koch

BALTIMORE (WJZ)– Nearly 50 years ago, the body of sister Cathy Cesnik was found in a ditch.

For months WJZ has been investigating the case that’s haunted the community.

Baltimore County police revealed only to WJZ that they’ve dug up the body of a powerful priest who has long been suspected in Cesnik’s death, to get his DNA.

In January of 1970, the decomposed body of 26-year-old Cathy Cesnik was discovered in a field in Lansdowne.

It’s a murder that’s gone unsolved for decades. A recent WJZ investigation revealed that many women who were sexually abused by Father Joseph Maskell, believed that sister Cathy was killed because she was about to blow the whistle on his dirty secret.

“She confronted him and she lost her life for it,” Teresa Lancaster said.

In the 60’s and 70’s, Father Maskell, a counselor at Archbishop Keough High School, was accused of molesting dozens of students, mostly women.

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CALIFORNIA
Fresno Bee

ROB PARSONS
rparsons@mercedsunstar.com

Less than six months after he was released from jail on a child pornography conviction, the former lead priest of a Los Banos Catholic parish faces new charges.

Robert E. Gamel, 67, the former lead priest at St. Joseph Church, will be arraigned Friday on a single felony count of possession of child pornography with a prior conviction, according to Merced County Superior Court records.

Gamel was arrested April 12 following a probation search at his Merced home, the Merced County District Attorney’s Office confirmed.

Deputy District Attorney Travis Colby confirmed the child pornography charge filed late Tuesday is a new allegation related to the April 12 search of Gamel’s home. Colby would not say what probation officers found at Gamel’s home.

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IRELAND
The Journal

DELVING INTO THE history of St Vincent’s Hospital provides an interesting viewpoint from which to analyse current agreements relating to the transfer of the National Maternity Hospital to the Elm Park site.

Of particular interest are the terms of the original agreement to fund the construction of St Vincent’s Hospital and its amendment in the period 1965-1972. In 1954, the State agreed to provide £1.35 million to fund the construction of a new St. Vincent’s hospital.

According to its terms, if the hospital was not built or if, when built, its use as a hospital was discontinued, the Sisters of Charity were to repay the amount of the grant. If the hospital continued for more than 30 years after the payment of the final installment of the grant for its construction, the obligation to repay the State ceased.

A similar arrangement

This arrangement has parallels to the proposed lien over the new National Maternity Hospital at the Elm Park site.

According to Dáil records from 1972, Dr Noel Browne (then of Labour) referred to a further important condition in the 1954 agreement. The old St Vincent’s Hospital at St Stephen’s Green was to continue to be used as a public hospital. If the Sisters of Charity sold the St Stephen’s Green hospital, the proceeds of sale were to be transferred to the Hospital Trust Fund.

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UNITED STATES
Reveal: The Center for Investigative Reporting

By Trey Bundy / May 3, 2017

There’s no question whether Jehovah’s Witnesses policies direct elders to keep child abuse secret from police. They do.

And there’s no question whether the religion’s headquarters maintains a database of alleged child sexual abusers going back decades. Or that Jehovah’s Witnesses leaders have violated court orders to hand it over.

It’s been three years since we began investigating the global child sexual abuse cover-up inside the Jehovah’s Witnesses organization, and even though we’ve learned many key details, questions still remain.

How many child abusers are still active around the world because the Jehovah’s Witnesses did not report them? Which congregations do they attend? And why, even in the face of lawsuits and multimillion-dollar court judgments, do leaders refuse to change their policies in any significant way?

We’ve demonstrated our findings in text, television, radio and virtual reality stories. But we felt there was more to do because of the strong public interest that would be served by answering those questions.

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CALIFORNIA
Los Angeles Times

Steve Marble

A San Francisco archbishop who pushed a divisive yet successful 2008 California ballot measure to ban same-sex marriage has died.

George H. Niederauer died Tuesday of lung cancer at a San Rafael care facility, the Archdiocese of San Francisco announced. He was 80.

Niederauer was regarded as a compassionate and tolerant leader when he was named archbishop after serving more than a decade as bishop of Salt Lake City, shifting from what then was one of the most conservative dioceses to the very epicenter of the gay rights movement. …

In 2005 he apologized for writing a letter to an Orange County judge, urging that a priest be spared prison time after being convicted on 26 counts of felony child sexual abuse. Indeed, Father Andrew Christian Anderson avoided time behind bars, until he was arrested four years later on suspicion of sodomizing a 14-year-old boy.

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NEW MEXICO
Albuquerque Journal

By Clara Garcia News-Bulletin Editor
Wednesday, May 3rd, 2017

BELEN — The Rev. Jonas Romea has been terminated from his position as associate pastor at Our Lady of Belen Catholic Church apparently in connection with inappropriate conduct with an 18-year-old, female high school student, according to diocese officials and local police.

“Effective Tuesday, April 25, 2017, Reverend Jonas Romea no longer has priestly faculties with the Archdiocese of Santa Fe and thus cannot administer the sacraments within the archdiocese, including the celebration of Mass,” wrote Celine Baca Radigan, director of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe Office of Communications/Media when contacted by the News-Bulletin. “Reverend Jonas Romea is (a) … priest of the Diocese of Tagbilaran (in the Philippines) and serves under the jurisdiction of the bishop thereof.”

The diocese confirmed an investigation to police but declined to disclose why he had been relieved of his duties in Belen except to say, “His residence is no longer the Our Lady of Belen rectory. We pray for Rev. Romea and wish him well.”

Belen police, acting on a tip about the Romea’s behavior and termination, began an investigation and contacted the diocese. The department released an informational report on the probe Wednesday.

A Belen detective spoke with the Rev. John Daniel of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe on Monday who said that “in an investigation conducted by the church … Father Romea had stated that after services he had talked to a juvenile female and had kissed her forehead and then he told her that he liked her pictures on Facebook. The juvenile, not yet listed, was reported as saying that Father Romea had kissed her on the cheek and then told her that he had seen her pictures on Facebook and that he wanted to see more pictures of her in shorts,” according to the report.

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NEW YORK/OHIO
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Prior to his priesthood Christopher Pliaplis was a religious order brother in Steubenville, Ohio; he left that ministry for three years to become a registered nurse. In 1987 Pliaplis was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Steubenville, going on to assist at parishes in Mingo Junction, Cambridge and Baldwin, Ohio. He transferred in 1991 to the Diocese of Rockville Centre, New York, reportedly to be near his ill mother. He assisted for several years at a Baldwin parish, followed by four years in Ronkonkoma; he is noted in the Official Catholic Directory during that parish assignment to have been ‘Absent on Leave.’ He then moved to a church in the Brooklyn diocese, followed by a transfer to the Archdiocese of New York, where was an assistant parish priest in Nanuet, Carmel and then Staten Island.

In 2006 a male high school student accused Pliauplis of grabbing his genitals at St. Patrick’s on Staten Island. The student was teaching religious education at the parish and Pliauplis was the program’s director. The incident allegedly occurred January 18, when the priest and youth passed each other in the school hallway. The boy and his family complained to the archdiocese and filed a report with the district attorney; there were no criminal charges. Pliauplis denied the allegations. He was suspended from active ministry in March 2006 and, per the Archdiocesan Review Board’s recommendation, Pliauplis was permanently removed from ministry in June 2006.

Pliauplis filed an appeal to the Vatican; he was successful. In July 2008 he was allowed to return to ministry, and was assigned to New York’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral. He remained at the cathedral as an assistant until 2011, followed by an unexplained gap of one year. His status since 2012 has been ‘On Leave of Absence.’

Ordained: 1987

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MISSOURI
Courthouse News Service

TRACI RORK May 3, 2017

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (CN) – The Archdiocese of Kansas City severed its relationship with Girl Scouts USA in more than 20 Kansas counties, opting to align itself with a faith-based group that it says better represents the Catholic lifestyle.

The archdiocese announced this week that after 100 years of partnering with the Girl Scouts, it will instead align itself with American Heritage Girls, whose mission is “building women of integrity through service to God, family, community and country.”

Kansas City Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann said in a statement that Girl Scouts USA promotes “programs and materials reflective of many of the troubling trends in our secular culture” and is “no longer a compatible partner in helping us form young women with the virtues and values of the Gospel.”

The Archdiocese of Kansas City’s main issues with Girl Scouts has to do with the group’s alleged ties to Planned Parenthood and their promotion of role models such as feminists Margaret Sanger, Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem, who “not only do not reflect our Catholic worldview but stand in stark opposition to what we believe,” Naumann said. …

Those not excited about the Kansas City Archdiocese’s announcement include Barb Dorris, managing director of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP.

“They’ve taken action with the Girl Scouts but let a criminal run the whole diocese, it’s out of balance,” she said in reference to former Kansas City Diocese Bishop Robert Finn, who was found guilty in 2012 of failing to report suspected child abuse.

Dorris, a former Catholic school teacher, says she became involved with SNAP after she caught a priest molesting a child in 1991.

“We have 25,000 members worldwide and we’re growing. The good news is they found us, the bad news is there are always more victims,” Dorris said.

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CHILE
El Dinamo

[Priest John O’Reilly: Supreme Court Rejects appeal of his child abuse conviction.]

El 2008 al sacerdote John O’Reilly, irlandés, por entonces representante de los Legionarios de Cristo en Chile y jefe máximo del Colegio Cumbres, se le otorgaba la nacionalidad por gracia “por su aporte a la educación, labor social y fundacional en la creación de colegios”.

Años después, en el 2014 fue condenado por abuso sexual reiterado contra una niña del citado establecimiento educacional. Es en ese contexto en el que se tramitó el fin del reconocimiento del sacerdote como chileno, a lo que el Congreso accedió unánimemente.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Christian Today

Harry Farley JOURNALIST 03 May 2017

A paedophile vicar who posted explicit handwritten fantasy stories about child sex through neighbours letterboxes has been spared a jail sentence.

Rev Peter Low, 65, was found in possession of 124 indecent images of children, including nine in the most serious category A, a court heard on Tuesday.

The priest was caught after he called police himself to report a burglary at his home in Heybridge, Essex. Police found nothing stolen but his handwriting matched graphic notes about ‘scantily clad’ children that had been posted through neighbours’ doors, Chelmsford Crown Court heard.

But Low avoided prison and instead has been sentenced to a three-year community order after pleading guilty to three counts of possession of indecent images of children and one count of possession of a prohibited image of a child on March 29.

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GUAM
The Guam Daily Post

Neil Pang | The Guam Daily Post

A new complaint of child sexual abuse has been filed in federal court against former Guam priest Rev. Louis Brouillard, the Archdiocese of Agana and the Guam chapter of the Boy Scouts of America.

In the latest case of abuse wrought by clergy against young boys held under their care, a plaintiff with the initials J.Q. is alleging that Brouillard sexually molested and abused him in the 1970s when he was between the ages of 13 and 15 and an altar boy at the Santa Teresita Catholic Church in Mangilao as well as a member of the Mangilao Boy Scout Troop 14, where Brouillard served as priest and scoutmaster.

Like many of the cases filed before this one, J.Q.’s complaint centers around outings with the boys scouts where Brouillard allegedly groped and fondled him and other boys who were instructed by Brouillard to swim naked in order to earn their merit badges.

According to the case filed yesterday afternoon, this practice of sexual abuse of young children was widespread and infected the highest rungs of the archdiocese’s hierarchy. Court documents allege that other priests and church officials, including Bishop Apollinaris Baumgartner, Archbishop Anthony Apuron, Monsignor Zoilo Camacho, now-deceased Rev. Antonio Cruz and others, either took part in similar abuse or knew about the abuse being perpetrated by others.

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MASSACHUSETTS
WCVB

BOSTON —
A pastor at a Boston church was arrested Tuesday and charged with drug trafficking.

Willie Wilkerson, a pastor Mission Church on Quincy Street, was taken into custody after search warrants were executed at Wilkerson’s home and the church.

Police said they seized crack cocaine, Fentanyl, Percocet, Klonopin, Suboxone and more than $10,000. Officers said they also found stolen items.

Wilkerson, 58, of Dorchester, was charged with trafficking Class B drugs, possession with intent to distribute Class B drugs, and possession with intent to distribute Class C drugs.

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CHILE
24 Horas

[Fernando Karadima is transferred to a nursing home in Lo Barnechea.]

El Arzobispado de Santiago comunicó el traslado de Fernando Karadima hacia un hogar de ancianos en Lo Barnechea, luego del desgaste que habría presentado el religioso.

A través de un comunicado, la institución indicó que Karadima “ha sido trasladado de residencia al Hogar de Ancianos San José, de las Religiosas de la Congregación de Santa Teresa Jornet”.

La publicación agrega que la medida se debe a “razones internas”, y autorizada por la Congregación de la Doctrina de la Fe de la Santa Sede.

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IRELAND
Hot Press

A small group gathered outside the Dail this afternoon to oppose the decision to allow ownership of the €300m taxpayer-funded National Maternity Hospital to be given to The Religious Sisters of Charity.

People Before Profit TD Brid Smith curated the protest, which saw speeches given by a spokesperson from AIMS Ireland (Association for the Improvement of Maternity Services in Ireland), a former resident in the Magdelene Laundries, a spokesperson from the Coalition of the Repeal the 8th Amendment, and People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd-Barrett.

Impassioned speeches and chants at the gates of Leinster House set the tone for a larger National Maternity Hospital protest, which is scheduled to take place on Sunday 2.30pm.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Katholisch

[The final report on the alleged abuse at the Regensburger Domspatzen is still delayed. Originally, Regensburg lawyer Ulrich Weber wanted to publish it in the first quarter of 2017, then the date had been postponed to May. As the Sonderermittler reported on the Bavarian radio on Tuesday, it will probably be June.]

Der Abschlussbericht zur Aufklärung der Übergriffe bei den Regensburger Domspatzen verzögert sich weiter. Ursprünglich wollte ihn der Regensburger Rechtsanwalt Ulrich Weber im ersten Quartal 2017 veröffentlichen, dann war der Termin auf Mai verschoben worden. Wie der Sonderermittler am Dienstag dem Bayerischen Rundfunk mitteilte, wird es nun wohl Juni werden. Grund dafür seien neue Informationen, die noch immer eintreffen würden.

Auf seiner Homepage gab Weber auch bekannt, dass die Mitglieder des Anerkennungsgremiums seit Januar bereits ihre Tätigkeit aufgenommen hätten. Neben seiner Person gehörten dem Gremium die Professoren Barbara Seidenstücker und Knud Hein an. Das Bistum Regensburg teilte dazu auf seiner Seite im Internet mit, dass es zuletzt immer wieder Anfragen von Betroffenen gegeben habe, wann die ersten Anerkennungsleistungen ausbezahlt würden. Das Gremium und auch das Bistum versicherten, dass die ersten Auszahlungen für die zweite Jahreshälfte 2017 geplant seien.

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GUAM
KUAM

May 03, 2017

By Krystal Paco

We can expect to see the Chancery and the Redemptoris Mater Seminary among the Archdiocese of Agana’s assets up for sale. Coadjutor Archbishop Michael Byrnes confirmed on Tuesday that the Archdiocese is liquidating assets in light of the dozens of clergy sex abuse lawsuits against the Church.

“We’re looking at assets that right now do not touch parish buildings or school buildings. We’re looking at those assets that are most easily liquidated, so that’s about all I can say about it right now,” Byrnes commented. “We’re still in the process of evaluating specific assets that can be sold.”

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